Muddy Tulips
by Riddikulus-Grin
Summary: LBD-verse. After Darcy tells the story of his first-ever date, Lizzie finds herself inexplicably jealous. Which is wierd, because before that moment, she didn't think she even liked the man like that.


**Guys, I should probably point out that this is my first time writing fafiction in a REALLY long time, and my first attempt at LBD. It may be a little rusty, don't judge too harshly. Reviews are appriciated :)**

**DISCLAIMER: Not my characters, naturally.**

* * *

It was a quiet Wednesday. She'd been having a lot of those recently, Sundays and Wednesdays when she wanted to record a video but nothing had happened. Since the Lydia crisis was dealt with, Bing and Jane were back together and she and Darcy had reached an awkward relationship that consisted of her feeling indebted to him after he helped Lydia, and him saying it was nothing, and the two of them being not-friends-but-getting-there.

Bing, Darcy and Caroline were all staying at Netherfield again. Bing came to be closer to Jane (who was home for the holidays) Caroline came to be with Bing (and, Lizzie suspected, to be closer to Darcy) and they could only guess at Darcy's reasons for coming.

These days, when Bing came to visit the house, Darcy came too. Her mother made a great fuss over Bing, and was now pleasant to Darcy as well - Lizzie suspected Jane had something to do with it. After dinner, Lizzie tended slip upstairs to record a video, which was where she was now. In front of the camera with nothing really interesting to say.

"Guess who came to dinner? Bing and Darcy, _again_. Jane and Bing are so sweet together it's almost nauseating. Seriously, rot-your-teeth sweet, I'm waiting for an engagement. As it happens, so is Mum. Same as Monday, really." She paused, and then sighed. "My name is Lizzie Bennet, and nothing's really happening right now."

There was a knock at the door. Nobody knocked in her house... for somebody who didn't really care for appearing in her videos, Darcy had near-perfect timing.

"Come in."

Darcy entered, adding yet another Darcy-torso shot to her video diaries. He spotted the camera and pulled back his neck in the way Gigi pointed out he did. He was nervous.

"Lizzie. I see you're filming. May I join you?"

"Um, sure, if you want. I haven't really got anything to talk about. Any ideas?"

Darcy sat down next to her, close enough that their forearms were touching. He looked at the camera, and then at her, taking a moment to speak. "Have you considered a theme?"

"I'm sorry?"

"It's been my observation that most video bloggers tend to set a theme of the video to talk about, if there are not pressing matters."

Good idea. "Like what?"

"Maybe you should ask your twitter followers? They do supply you with questions for Q&As."

It took approximately three minutes for Lizzie to find a theme she liked from the suggestions that flooded in. Darcy looked over her shoulder at her phone as she watched responses appear, much closer than he usually allowed himself to be. It was surprisingly difficult to ignore.

"First dates." Said Lizzie, looking back up at the camera she had left rolling. Darcy looked somewhat startled and pulled himself back, so he was sitting next to her at a respectable distance, staring at the camera.

"First dates?"

"First dates _ever_." Lizzie classified. "That was suggested by tonysgirl on twitter and a few others. I'll go first, shall I?" Lizzie recounted the story of dating a boy named David in the eighth grade. They had gone on one date, at Charlotte's insistence. It had been really, really awkward and they avoided each other after that.

She could sense Darcy's eyes upon her and found herself stumbling to reach the end of her anecdote so he could start his. It was becoming harder and harder to look at the camera - she desperately wanted to turn to Darcy and see his reactions to the story. Not that she thought he'd be jealous, or even interested, she was just curious. She was scared, however, that if she looked at him she wouldn't be able to look away... she had no idea where that fear came from.

"So Darcy, it's your turn." She turned to grin at him, pleased to have the excuse to. "What was your first date like?"

Embarrassedly, Darcy turned to look at the camera. "I assure you, its not a very interesting story."

Lizzie scoffed. "Less interesting than David-one-date?"

Darcy smiled, looking at her again. Lizzie couldn't work out if he was scared of the camera or if he just liked looking at her. She knew what she hoped the answer was. "My first date was when I was sixteen. Her name was Lucy, and I absolutely adored her." Lizzie felt a stab of jealousy - but it was ridiculous to think she might be his first love, so she tried her best to ignore it. Darcy's eyes were searching as he spoke, looking for her reaction. She gave nothing away."I pined over her for about a year before I asked her out. I was very nervous, and Gigi teased me, saying I should have gotten her flowers - about three minutes before she arrived I pulled some tulips from the garden for her. Not knowing the convention of giving flowers on dates and with no time to research, I handed her them straight from the ground, muddy roots and all. I think nerves may have played a part In my lapse of common sense." He was still looking at her, a small smile on his lips.

How could she have not noticed before now? Her mind was wandering, imagining Darcy handing _her_ muddy tulips, on _their_ first date. She was staring at his face, transfixed, her lips were parted slightly. Her feelings for Darcy, she realised were not just friendly.

Darcy was the one to break the gaze, he addressed the camera. "I should probably be going, leave Lizzie to film."

"No - um, no need, thats all I have to say. I'll just, um, turn this off." She got up, pressed "off" and turned to Darcy. "Well."

"Well indeed." Said Darcy. "Shall we rejoin the after-dinner conversations downstairs?" He held the door open. Lizzie's mind was reeling. The image of Darcy holding tulips was strong in her mind, with a deep sense of longing, and a desire that, if it had been there before, she certainly hadn't noticed. Darcy was still looking at her, so she followed him downstairs. She no longer trusted herself alone with him.

* * *

That night, she sat down on Jane's bed and told her everything. Jane, although visibly surprised, remained silent as Lizzie spoke. "... And it's never going to come to anything because he can't possibly love me after I rejected him like that."

Jane's eyes were wide. She took some time to speak, and the words she spoke seemed carefully chosen. "Well, what makes you think that?"

Lizzie held up her hands in exasperation. "I cruelly rejected him and posted it on the internet! What _possible_ love could survive that?"

"Lizzie," said Jane, "he seems to really like you."

"He's being friendly!"

"Why?" That pulled Lizzie up short. She opened her mouth and then closed it again with nothing to say, like a fish. Jane laughed quietly. "Lizzie, you rejected him and he still wants to be your friend. He helped with Lydia. I think he might still like you."

"What? _No_, that's...that's crazy."

"Is it, Lizzie?" Jane did her trust-me-I'm-your-sister look and Lizzie caved.

"Ok, there's a slight possibility that he maybe, possibly likes me a _tiny_ bit, but not enough to want to act on it. I've blown it."

"Lizzie you have not blown it. I'm sure Darcy's already forgiven you."

"Ok." She didn't feel much better, but Jane was hard to disagree with. She leaned over to give Jane a hug.

"You should tell Lydia about this." she said.

"Lydia, why? She's a blabbermouth."

"Yes," said Jane patiently, "But she'd want to know. It's not fair to tell me things and keep them from her. It makes her feel excluded."

Lizzie particularly had been trying to turn over a new leaf with Lydia since the Wickham drama. "You're right. I'll tell her tomorrow, I'm heading to bed."

* * *

Lizzie dreamed she was back at Pemberly. Lizzie dreamed of Lydia, Jane, Darcy and tulips.

* * *

She was awoken by Lydia, who excitedly told her that they were all going to Netherfield for lunch.

"Including mom?"

"No, of course not, _duh_! Like Jane would let _mom_ come when you're going to be busy making out with Darcy."

"Lydia!" Lizzie sat up.

"What? I heard you talking to Jane about it last night." She paused. "Thanks for planning to tell me, btdubs. I can keep a secret."

"I'm not doing to be making out with Darcy!"

"Yeah but do you want to?" Grinned Lydia. Lizzie faltered. "Got ya! Oh my god, _yuck_. TMI sis. Now get changed because it's already like 10 o'clock."

Lydia turned to go. "Lydia wait." She stopped at the door. "Do you think maybe Darcy still loves me, then?"

"I think... I think he payed that money to George for you, not me." She said seriously, then left.

Getting dressed had suddenly become a much more difficult affair. She ended up wearing the same outfit they wore when they had gone on their tour of San Francisco. She played with having her hair up but eventually decided against it, and by the time she'd finished she had just enough time to send Charlotte the raw footage of yesterday's video. (Charlotte hadn't been able to persuade Ricky to give her time off, and although Lizzie didn't want to force more work on Charlotte she really didn't know what to keep in.)

Darcy was the one to greet the three of them at the door. "You're a bit early for lunch." He informed them. "Bing and Caroline are the living room." As Jane and Lydia entered, Darcy caught Lizzie by the arm. "I've been meaning to talk to you."

"Well that makes things easier because I kind of need to talk to you but it's kind of private so..."

"Shall we walk?" He nodded to the large grounds surrounding Netherfield.

"Won't we be missed?" Lizzie found herself asking.

Darcy smiled. "I think they'll manage." Lizzie took that to mean that Darcy had already discussed their possible absence with Bing.

They walked in silence, standing much closer than they might have in the past, but the ease in which they talked during the Sam Francisco tour was gone. "Lizzie I-" he started speaking just as Lizzie opened her mouth to do the same.

"You first." She said, before he could say the same.

Darcy looked increadably nervous. He stopped walking turned to face her. "I want you to know... I want you to know the feelings I expressed at Collins and Collins remain unchanged."

"You... Still love me?" Asked Lizzie, her head spinning. "Unchanged". Not "have returned". Not "I could learn to love you as I once did." Unchanged.

"Yes. If your feelings to me are unchanged also then I will never-" he was cut off by Lizzie, who grabbed him by his lapels and kissed him, full on the mouth. There was initial shock, but he responded with only a little hesitation, pulling her onto her tiptoes to deepen the kiss. It felt like fireworks were going off within her, and she knew right away this is what she wanted. What she had wanted for a lot longer than she'd realised. William Darcy. Woah.

"Lizzie?" Darcy and Lizzie broke apart. Caroline was standing on the path, looking horror-struck. "I was just going to tell you lunch was ready." The sweetness in her voice was forced, fake. She was angry. "But if you're otherwise engaged..."

"No, we'll come, give us a second. Lizzie had something to tell me."

Caroline spun around and walked back to house, pulling her phone out. Maybe she was about to tweet what had just happened. Well, it saved Lizzie telling her viewers.

"William, I-"

"William?" Darcy smiled. "I'm William to you now? What happened to Snobbery Mr Douchery?"

She'd been calling him William in her head for a while. But she wasn't going to admit that. "He changed." She said instead.

"What was it you wanted to tell me?"

"Oh. I wanted to tell you..." It sounded stupid now. "I wanted to tell you how unbelievably jealous I was of the girl you gave the tulips to, and that it could quite possibly indicate that I was falling in love with you."

"You're falling in love with me?" Said Darcy, raising his eyebrows.

"Indeed." She murmured, standing on tip-toes to kiss him again. "We should go inside. No doubt Caroline has already shared the news."

"Give me one moment." Darcy turned and started walking further up the path, inspecting the flower beds. He plucked a white tulip from the soil and handed it to her. There was still a little dirt on the stem. A muddy tulip. It felt like a promise.

Lizzie kissed him again. Hard.


End file.
